DISCLAIMER: We don’t own any of the stories published. We don’t know any Chinese language and this is our first time MTL-ing a novel, expect inaccuracies in the translations.

❌ NO SPOILERS. WE ARE MTL-ING THIS AT THE SAME TIME WE’RE READING IT ❌

Translated by: jiejie

Editor: Qiaone

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Chapter 23 – Together on the Hot Search

An Xumo didn’t dare to make a sound. He held his breath and stayed in the corner, watching as Han Ming and Zhou Jinchen leave. After a while, a short man who poked around came out from the side of the road with a big bag on his back and carrying something in his arms. An Xumo stared carefully before determining that it was an SLR.

Only when the surroundings were completely quiet did An Xumo come out from the shadows to where he’s hiding. He carefully looked around and made sure there were no bystanders before leaving the place.

Tomorrow would be the recording of 《Dance to the Top Show》, but now that he had met this kind of thing, An Xumo’s mind couldn’t help but feel slightly confused. What he cared about was nothing else but the entertainment that followed at the end. If Zhou Jinchen didn’t notice the secret shots and was caught in an ambiguous photo, then by the next day, this news could be slaughtered on the major social networks.

An Xumo recalled what Zhang Zhiwei had said during the previous recording of 《Sunny Weekend》. He said that Zhou Jinchen and Han Ming seemed to have a private relationship and asked An Xumo to be careful not to disturb their shots. Zhang Zhiwei’s words were vague and An Xumo was a little confused at that time, but now that he thought about it, it really seemed like he is on to something.

So if he makes it clear with Zhou Jinchen now, will it interfere with the other party’s plans?

An Xumo walked all the way to the bottom of the dormitory building and eventually decided to contact Zhou Jinchen. He thought if it was intentional planning, it would be just fine, at most he would leave a bad impression on the other party but if it was an unintentionally stolen shot, it would be big trouble for the other party.

He found a secluded place, took a deep breath, and dialed the familiar number.

“Beep-beep-“

After a long beep, the sweet electronic voice of a machine was heard on the call. An Xumo looked at his phone with some confusion, the call wasn’t connected.

The courage he had finally gathered was rushed by the busy tone of “toot”. An Xumo lightly scratched the rough bark of the tree trunk beside him with his nails and put his forehead against the trunk in frustration.

In his heart, he still… didn’t dare nor did he want to leave a bad impression on the other.

If Zhou Jinchen knew about this and they intended to use this to increase their popularity, then it would have been unwise for him to have rushed forward so rashly. An Xumo felt like burying his face in his palms at the thought of this possibility.

But if my brother was really being secretly filmed…

An Xumo hesitated in place for five minutes, but finally decided to try again. This time, he didn’t call Zhou Jinchen but dialed Xin Zimai’s number. The last time Xin Zimai sent him back, they also exchanged contact information.

Xin Zimai’s call was answered quickly, but it wasn’t Xin Zimai’s own voice that came from the other side.

“Hello, who is it?” The voice on the other side was slightly cool, and the tone was distinctly different from Xin Zimai’s.

“You are?”

“This is An Xumo, I need to talk to him for something.”

The microphone on the other side moved away a little, and An Xumo heard the other party call out, “Mai Mai, someone is looking for you,” and a distant and close voice complained, “Don’t you dare pick up my calls…”

An Xumo vaguely guessed who the first person to answer the phone was, and he remembered the tall doctor he had met when he had a seafood allergy.

Within a few moments, there was a different person on the phone, “Hello, Xiao An?”

“Director Xin, I’m sorry to bother you so late, but I have something to tell you.”

When An Xumo finished telling what he had witnessed earlier, there was a moment of silence, and then he said, “Thank you for reminding me, Xiao An. Did the two of them see you?”

An Xumo denied, “No.”

“That’s good,” Xin Zimai’s tone sounded serious. “I’ll take care of this matter. It’s so late, you should go home early soon.”

After hanging up the phone, a light scent of male perfume drifted over. Xin Zimai frowned, thinking about the stolen shots just now, momentarily unaware, he was hugged by the person behind him.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Xin Zimai raised his hand to block Li Qiucheng’s face; just under his palm was the other party’s straight high nose. “I have something to do, don’t disturb me…”

Li Qiucheng had a smile on his lips, but his voice was very serious. He said in a low voice, “Today’s pre-wedding task is still not complete.”

“What nonsense are you saying, didn’t we already kiss this morning oh…”

Xin Zimai, who is busy working overtime all day long and following his own boss, is neither fit as Zhou Jinchen nor as strong as him, and is rightfully no match for Dr. Li, who can perform three surgeries in a row.

After confessing the situation to Xin Zimai, the recording of 《Dance to the Top Show》 began the next day. An Xumo didn’t see the news about the two of them. After the busy preliminary rounds started, he was focused on the show, and this incident gradually faded away.

The preliminary contest of 《Dance to the Top Show》 invited seven guests. After three rounds of tests, three people will enter the finals. Among the seven artists, two are long-time supporting actors, one is a young artist who has gained popularity in variety shows, one is a host, and two are younger actors who are more famous and have been in leading roles. (T/N: I just noticed they aren’t 7 in total. After checking the raws, the author really missed one person lmao).

Unlike 《Sunny Weekend》, which tried to avoid being filmed by fans as much as possible, 《Dance to the Top Show》 has fans coming in to support during the live recording. Although fans could only enter the stage during the show, they didn’t disperse when they practiced in the backstage rehearsal room.

Most fans came for the two young actors and the variety star. One of them, Mao Yuntian seems to have something to do with the famous variety show, Li Zichao in the past. The preliminary game of 《Dance to the Top Show》 was recorded for two weeks. Except for the closed rehearsal period, these fans have been following the scene. During each stage match, the fans of Mao Yuntian and Li Zichao will secretly compete with each other, which one had a larger number of people and a bigger light board. Wang Yixiang’s fans watched the show and gave their own idol a boost.

An Xumo was too busy rehearsing. Tang Tang told him this gossips during his break. He knew that the other party intends to help him relieve his stress, but he was a little dumbfounded by these words.

The only person he likes is Zhou Jinchen. The other was indeed a popular artist, but An Xumo has never publicly expressed his love. Sometimes, he also thinks that these fans who can shout “I’m Zhou Jinchen’s wife” are very straightforward and cute. Unlike himself, because of this status, even liking him will bring a burden to the other party.

Tang Tang saw that he didn’t care much and couldn’t help but pat the armrest of the chair. “In less than two months, your fans will have such a battle.”

An Xumo just smiled, “Really.”

Tang Tang was choked by him, she felt like she couldn’t see this boy clearly. When it came to being attentive, An Xumo was definitely one of the most diligent trainees Tang Tang had ever seen. It’s hard to say but he always had an unusual indifference to his fame.

“How about we make a bet? At most sixty days, I bet you’ll have more than ten thousand fans.”

An Xumo smiled helplessly, “Alright, what are you betting on?”

“The nutritionist at this book is preparing a new nutritious meal. If I win, I’ll decline their invitation to taste it.”

“…….” An Xumo suddenly realized that he had a very strong motivation to become popular.

But this bet didn’t take two months at all. Two weeks later, the third season of 《Dance to the Top Show》 was announced and the trailer was released on various platforms.

The trailer, which has always been a fan of “bluffing”, enlarges the show’s effect that was originally 1 to 10. But it’s not the seven guests that have caught the public’s attention, it was a young unknown dancer in white who has been specially cut out of the trailer frame by frame.

He walks from the darkness to the light; his silhouette was clearly visible. A few seconds of a close-up of his side profile and a glimpse of his front face was so breathtaking that they can’t help but rewind the bar to the second he appears.

The appearance of this section in less than ten seconds was cut off by quick bloggers and posted a gif. On the night of the first trailer, the gif was forwarded for more than30,000 and the number of likes exceeded 50,000. The keyword, “good looking side profile” soared into the top ten of the hot search.

Countless people were amazed by this accidental figure, but it seems like everyone doesn’t know who this person really is. 《Dance to the Top Show》 has never had a precedent for inviting guests. The seven guests were announced and confirmed early. They have never heard of new stars who want to join the league.

With the broadcast of the second trailer, the brewing heat had reached a real explosion. Curious people finally learned the identity of the good-looking side profile in the trailer – he’s actually not a guest, but a dance partner with the guest partner!

The second trailer released a clip of this backup dancer dancing, and those who were left hanging were caught off guard by a new wave of shock. There’s no doubt that the man’s face is good enough, but dancing makes him look ten times better than he usually does!

The dance partner appeared in the fifty-five seconds of the trailer, and within half an hour, the keyword “fifty-five seconds” is on the hot search again. Even Fengcheng TV, which hosts 《Dance to the Top Show》 didn’t expect this effect. The online buzz directly influenced the order in which they released the trailer. A special trailer dedicated to each guest’s practice segment was released in advance. The user who frantically asked “who is this little brother” finally learned the identity of the dancer.

He’s a signed artist of Jin Dian, An Xumo who is only 17 years old.

An Xumo has his own Weibo, which was opened by the company before and has been managed by Tang Tang. His Weibo @An Xumo momo previously had less than 5,000 followers, which was the company’s unified wholesale zombie fan. After the trailer was released, his Weibo followers soared to 100,000 in less than three hours.

When Tang Tang held the phone that was vibrating until her hand was numb and showed it to An Xumo, he didn’t know that he was on the hot search. He listened to Tang Tang’s guidance and opened the hot search list. He scanned it once and froze, he couldn’t guess which one was related to him.

“It’s the ‘good-looking side profile’ and ‘fifty-five seconds’. Hey, it seems like a ‘good-looking side profile’ has gone down. Just click on ‘fifty-five seconds’ and maybe after a while, your own Weibo name should also be on the hot search… By the way, Xiao Mo, do you know what your Weibo name is?”

“… Huh?” An Xumo paused for a moment before answering. Tang Tang was so angry and amused. She was about to bring the phone over to An Xumo and find his own Weibo when she saw that he had already clicked on a hot search himself.

“Hey, what’s this, a new hot search content?” Tang Tang read out curiously, “Han Ming’s night meeting with a mysterious friend, his suspected romance exposed…?”

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The author has something to say:

The progress of Xiao Mo’s upgrade and keeping a notebook for his brother are in sync…